![]() Motobécane bicycles included the Nomade, Mirage, Super Mirage, Super Touring, Grand Touring, Sprint, Super Sprint, Jubilee Sport, Grand Record, Le Champion, and Team Champion.ĭuring the 1950s and 1960s automobile use and ownership in France grew consistently, and much of this growth came at the expense of motorcycle producers. Considered the second most prestigious French bicycle (after Peugeot, whose more durable design they emulated, but ahead of Gitane), Motobécane's mid-range bikes were good value the company kept prices reasonable by matching high-quality frames with lower-priced, but higher-quality components from Japan, at a time when competitors were putting higher-priced, lower quality French components on mid-range bikes. Motobécane finished their frames in beautiful and high-quality paint, a practice not often followed in the French industry. Unlike most French makers of the era, Motobecane used Swiss thread bottom brackets for most models. The frames on Motobécane's mid-to-upper bikes were typically double-buttedlugged steel made from Vitus or Reynolds 531 molybdenum/manganese steel tubing with Nervex lugs. The change was largely due to the influence of their U.S. This was a very good move on their part, because at that time Japanese derailleurs and crank sets were much better than the older French designs common on mid-priced 10-speeds. Motobecane was the first French maker to start using Japanese parts, in the late 1970s. Motobecane is known for designing very light weight mountain bicycles. Motobécane was a major manufacturer in the French bicycle industry. Current data suggests the serial numbers are purely sequential with no year designator and a '7' would be greatly out of sequence. I do not believe the lead number is a '7'. The numbers stamped on the drop outs are 47917. The bike's serial number on the bottom bracket is 7749062 followed by 702. If the frame was made overseas in Taiwan, it gets more complicated. The last four digits are the serialization digits 0000 to 9999 depending on what number the frame was of the years production. The first four numbers should be a two digit month followed by a two digit year. The next part of the serial number is eight numeric digits. If there is no serial number near the cranks, you should check other common places including the front headset or rear stays. Turn your bike upside down and record the number. The majority of serial numbers are located under the bottom bracket where the two pedal cranks meet. It is questionable what year and I don't know the model as there are no 'side plates' or whatever those covers are called. ![]()
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